1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for preferentially connecting a telephone caller who has had many call attempts result in busy signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Owing to the recent development of the information processing technology and communication technology, a system for making reservations for a concert ticket, golf course and the like over the phone has become popular.
In the system for making reservations for a concert ticket over the phone, for example, a plurality of telephone terminals are installed on the side of a distributor. The distributor then receives calls from purchasers over those telephone terminals and reserves concert tickets which the purchasers ask for. The purchasers can reserve preferable tickets by calling and talking with the distributor within a reservation time. This system has a merit that the purchasers need not go to shop and can make reservations from their own house or the like.
However, in the case of concert tickets, the terminals of the distributor are busy almost all the time during the time for application and the purchasers are obliged to make many calls before being connected to the terminal of the distributor. Although such communication services as queuing and call waiting for holding a certain number of calls until the terminals are cleared are being taken in to solve the aforementioned problem, the purchasers have to make still a plurality of phone calls in order to receive the queuing service or call waiting service even if those communication services are adopted. On the other hand, when a period of the call coincides with a period in which the terminals are cleared or with a transition period in which waiting queues in a busy state are put into an idle state, the purchaser can communicate with the terminal of the distributor by just making one call. That is, whether or not the communication is established is defined regardless of the number of calls which the purchaser has made and hence it is hard to say that the communication service is provided fairly.